There are definitely questions of the battery's longevity in warm climates. In Florida, I would think about a short lease; there are nice 2-year leases available. In my climate, there are not (yet) problems.

Personally, I don't like the interior of the Volt. I felt like I was sitting in a hole.

Also, Ford is coming out with a nice plug-in hybrid, not as far electric-only range as the volt, but still worth looking at.

I wonder how many kWh it takes to charge a car and how that compares to buying gasoline? Reason I ask is our electric costs around $0.25 a kWh when you add in all the fees and taxes. I'm told in western NY the rate is around $0.49. Not sure though.

As a big Honda fan, I think I am just going to wait until I can at least check out the plug-in hybrid Accord that is due in January 2013 as a 2014 model.--So put me on a highway, and show me a sign.And take it to the limit one more time...

I wonder how many kWh it takes to charge a car and how that compares to buying gasoline? Reason I ask is our electric costs around $0.25 a kWh when you add in all the fees and taxes. I'm told in western NY the rate is around $0.49. Not sure though.

The Leaf runs about 3.5 miles/KWh, depending on weather, speed, driving style, etc, and including charging loss at 240V. If you're really paying $0.49/KWh (which is quite high), you'll run around $0.14/mile or the equivalent of $4.90 gas in a 35 MPG car. Still not bad, especially when you add the lack of maintenance costs on an EV.

What is the estimated life span of the batteries in the Leaf? And the replacement costs?

Those are the big questions. Nissan has informally stated that the average driver will see 80% capacity left after 5 years of driving. However, there are some drivers in Phoenix already down under 80%!

This is why I said that drivers in hot climates should plan on 2 or 3-year leases. I live in a pretty temperate climate and after 1 year & 15K miles, I'm seeing very little capacity loss.

As for replacement cost, I've heard that Nissan will replace a battery pack in a car for $5K. The certainly won't sell it for that to a random person for some other purpose. However, no one seems to be able to get a price out of Nissan.

Part of this may be that Nissan is just starting battery production here in the US (TN) and this may drop the price significantly.

Being in the electrical business I hate to say this, but many times an electric car or plugin hybrid just doesn't make sense. A Honda Civic can get 40+ MPG. A Passat TDI easily gets over 40 MPG. No plugging in. No massive (toxic) battery packs. No government subsidies required.Now if you live somewhere where electricity is dirt cheap, that's another story.Although, with WW3 about to break out, and gas prices fluctuating wildly - who knows?--If someone refers to herself / himself as a "guru", they probably aren't.

The best alternative fuel for vehicles at the moment seems to be CNG (compressed natural gas). Quite a few fleet vehicles including heavy trucks are now migrating to it. If the infrastructure for refueling was in place or at least developing, I think it could be the next major fuel source for consumer vehicles.

Here is some more info ... apparently "MPGe" is starting to be used to help people better compare electric cars to gas cars. 33.7 kilowatt hours of electricity is equivalent to one gallon of gasoline is the base metric.

I completely agree. I bought my 2006 Civic in March of that year and people were expecting us to hit $5 a gallon for regular by summer. I did a few comparisons based on my driving habits at the time and how many more miles I might add if I switched jobs and drove to work and I think the break even point would have been around $6 a gallon for me which we never hit. Outside of feeling good and going green, I would've lost money had I gone with a hybrid.--1/22/2012 Delegate CountNewt 25 | Romney 14 | Ron Paul 10 | Santorum 8

It really depends on how many miles you drive. Which is interesting... because the LEAF can only go so far. Yours seems to be the worst case scenario for 3 reasons:

1. $0.20 / kWh seems quite high to me, but your mileage my vary2. civics get very good mpg3. gas prices have been trending down since the summer peak

my situation:I pay $0.13 / kWh here (do you count fees and such in yours? I did in mine for what its worth). My civic gets 36 mpg (non hybrid, 2008), $3.50 a gallon where I fill up lately

a Leaf for me:(33 kWh * $0.13) / 100 = $0.0429 / mile

my civic:so that would mean $3.50 / gal / 36 = $.097 / mile

I'd save about a $0.0543 a mile, and I go ~15k miles a year, thats ~$814 a year in savings for me. But I couldn't actually go that far in a leaf because the battery would die.

No but seriously. You can go what, 60 miles on a charge? Can you realistically drive it more than that in a day? Would it fully charge in ~8 hours? Meaning drive 60 miles to work, charge, drive 60 miles back?--

When we lived in South Florida my wife purchased a 2006 Lexus RX-400h hybrid to replace a Volvo Cross Country. The Cross Country got about 12 Miles per gallon and required premium fuel. She traveled 25 miles each way to work through bumper to bumper traffic. A friend that owned an RX-300 only got about 14 miles to the gallon so my wife decided to purchase the hybrid. When she replaced the Volvo she was very pleased because fuel mileage went from 12 Miles per gallon on premium to 24 to 26 Miles per gallon on regular.

That seemed great until we moved to Central Florida when the fuel mileage dropped to around 22 miles to the gallon. When we replaced the RX-400h with an RX-350 which was not a hybrid. The RX-350 got from 19 to 22 Miles to the gallon. The only reason that we did not loose our shirts on the $7,000.00 difference in price between an RX-300 and RX-400h was that there was an income tax credit on the purchase and an incentive by Lexus on the sale of the RX-400h because fuel prices had dropped.

We traded in the RX-400h when gas prices were high and the Lexus dealer was offering an incentive on the purchase of a non hybrid RX. We broke even but if it were not for the incentives and tax credits and timing on the purchase of the replacement vehicle, overall I would have lost my shirt. When I ran the numbers on the purchase of another RX hybrid I would have recovered the difference in cost if I kept the vehicle from 7 to 9 years if my wife was still driving the same route in South Florida. That was without considering the cost of replacing the traction battery.

When I ran the numbers on the purchase of another RX hybrid I would have recovered the difference in cost if I kept the vehicle from 7 to 9 years if my wife was still driving the same route in South Florida.

You have put a lot of careful thought into all this.

What gets me are another sort that go overboard trying to analyze break-even points based on fuel economy, trying to 'prove' a vehicle like the RX hybrid a bad decision.

People routinely purchase less efficient larger engined versions of non-hybrid vehicles based on a desire for more power. This isn't wrong, it is just a choice. One can't calculate a number like fuel economy to 'justify' the decision.

In your case, you got better fuel economy + a significant power upgrade from your RX400h. Not having to refill the tank as often wins in my eyes too.--The talented hawk speaks French.

Given the research you are doing, I am sure you will be happy with your final decision.

If you want to throw another variable in, there is also the Plug-in Prius. Smaller electric-only range (subsequent driving is hybrid) than the others you mentioned, but with a lower price (starts at 32 k).

Pros are far better gasoline fuel economy than the Volt, lower price and a shorter charge time. The tradeoff is a smaller battery capacity.

My blink charging station was installed on Saturday. The installer called because he his scheduled appointment wasn't ready for the install so he was scrambling to find a way to use his crew for the day. Since the circuit was already installed the job took about 45 minutes.

I'm loving charging with a level 2 charger. The unit is pretty complicated and so far has done 2 major updates that took several hours each.